Not mutually exclusive, but in some places, maybe not highly correlated either.

Especially if the job is to survive a useless technological gauntlet.

Well, if you remove the word "useless."

Agreed and to me it sounds incredibly short sighted. People who have survived technological gauntlets know how to adapt and help instill a sense of continuity in fellow team members.

I, for the life of me, don't understand why people defend these gauntlets. Wasn't getting a degree from MIT enough of a gauntlet? Wasn't writing reams and reams of working, robust, well-documented code proof enough of one's software engineering skills?

I think so!

That's what college is advertised to do: show that you can put up with tons of work and stick it out to see the end you wish to achieve even if the means are not what you had hoped.

Try interviewing, every 2 or 3 years the interviewing crowd has been influenced by their day's generational thinking (not a bad thing just something to be aware of); I for one always welcomed people who have passed through amazing experiences. Apparently from recent interviewing I was/am in the minority. Oh, I meant the gauntlet of experience, learning under fire; I'm not a college graduate.

Perhaps I need to use hair coloring.

I got the impression form the article that they were referring to passing through a technological gauntlet during the interview process (ie. complicated programming puzzles) rather than life experience. Is that also what you are referring to?

You're right, I misunderstood the context of the comment during the first reading.

They aren't. And neither is hiring only people with red hair.